Fax routing system and method of using standard fax machine and personal computer

ABSTRACT

A fax routing system and method using a standard fax machine and personal computer. The telephone number is decoded from the telephone number dialing which is generated by the fax machine. This number is looked up in a table. If a corresponding Internet address is found, the fax is downloaded from the fax machine, converted into a computer file, and sent to the recipient via his Internet address. If a corresponding Internet address is not found, the decoded number is dialed on a telephone line and, thereafter, the telephone line is connected to the fax machine for normal fax delivery.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation-in-part application of applicants' co-pendingapplication entitled “Fax Routing System and Method Using Standard FaxMachine and Personal Computer,” Ser. No. 09/148,640, filed Sep. 4, 1998,now U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,445 which is a continuation of applicant'soriginal application for patent, entitled “Fax Routing System and MethodUsing Standard Fax Machine and Personal Computer,” Ser. No. 08/833,851,filed on Apr. 10, 1997, and which ultimately issued on Jan. 19, 1999, asU.S. Patent No. 5,862,202. The content of both of these applications isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to fax routing systems and methods and, inparticular, fax routing systems and methods which direct faxes over themost economical route.

2. Description of Related Art

The delivery of faxes is very important to modern-day business. The costof toll calls, however, lessens the value of this important technology.

Toll-free telephone numbers have been created to partially alleviatethis problem. Unfortunately, these telephone numbers are expensive andnot in widespread use.

The Internet is another technology which is being used to advantageouslycarry faxes. Its widespread use, however, has been hampered by the needfor special equipment (e.g., document readers) and the failure of manybusiness to have the equipment which is necessary to receive a fax overthe Internet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One object of the present invention is to provide a fax routing systemand method which obviates these and other problems in the prior art.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a fax routingsystem and method which routes a fax over the most economical route.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a faxrouting system and method which chooses the most economical route forthe fax automatically.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a faxrouting system and method which does not require a special documentscanner to read the fax, but can instead utilize a standard fax machine.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a faxrouting system and method which does not require a substantialinvestment in specialized computer equipment but, instead, can utilizean existing personal computer (“PC”).

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a faxrouting system and method which economically routes faxes using aminimum of equipment in addition to what is already possessed by thetypical business.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a faxrouting system and method for routing faxes over the most economicalroute which is easy to operate.

These as well as still further objects, features and benefits of thepresent invention are provided by a fax routing system and method whichis adaptable to using a standard fax machine and PC to identify the mosteconomical route for the fax and to direct the fax over that route. Thesystem and method includes a fax director connected to the fax machine,to the PC, to a telephone line, and, optionally, to the Internet.

Transmission of the fax begins in the normal manner by placing the faxto be sent in the standard fax machine. The fax director provides thestandard fax machine with a dial tone and then receives and decodes thenumber which is dialed by the standard fax machine. This number is thenrouted to the PC, which looks it up in a table.

If the number is in the table, a corresponding Internet address isreturned. The fax director then handshakes with the standard faxmachine. The fax director then receives the fax being sent by thestandard fax machine and converts it into a computer file. That computerfile is then sent to the Internet address. The Internet address can be astandard IP address or an E-mail address.

If the number is not in the table, the fax director dials the telephonenumber over the telephone line and then connects the standard faxmachine to the telephone line so that the fax can be sent in its normalmanner.

These, as well as still further objects, features and benefits of thepresent invention will now become clear upon an examination of theaccompanying drawings and detailed description of the preferredembodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a fax routing system and method configuredin accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the fax director shown inFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the local computer shownin FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the table shown in FIG.1.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating one of the operational sequencesof the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1-4.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a fax routing system and method inaccordance with another embodiment of the present invention using aremotely-located processing system.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a fax routing system and method configuredin accordance with a still further embodiment to the present inventionusing a server computer connected to the Internet to deliver Internetaddresses.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a fax routing system and method configuredin accordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, a local fax machine 1 is connected to a fax director3. The fax director 3 is connected to a local computer 5 containing atable 7.

The system shown in FIG. 1 also includes a fax sender 9. The line 11connecting the fax sender 9 to the fax director 3 and the line 13connecting the fax sender 9 to the local computer 5 are shown as dotted.This has been done to indicate that, at least in the embodiment shown inFIG. 1, only one of the connections is actually needed.

The system shown in FIG. 1 also includes a connection between the faxsender 9 and the Internet 15. FIG. 1 also shows an example of the manyother types of connections to the Internet 15 which can advantageouslybe utilized in connection with the subject invention, such as a remotecomputer 19 connected to a remote printer 21. Last, FIG. 1 shows the faxdirector 13 also being connected over a telephone line 23 to thetelephone system 25 which, in turn, is connected to a variety of deviceswhich can advantageously be used in connection with the subjectinvention, such as a remote fax machine 27.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the fax director 3 shownin FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the fax director 3 includes a processor31 connected to a handshaker 33, an off-hook sensor 35, a telephonenumber dialer 37, a dial tone provider 39, a telephone number decoder41, and a fax converter 43.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of the local computer 5 shown in FIG. 1. Asshown in FIG. 3, the local computer 5 includes the telephone numbertable 7, a fax storage area 51, E-mail software 53, and FTP software 55.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the table 7 shown inFIGS. 1 and 3. As shown in FIG. 4, the table 7 includes a set of records61, each of which includes a telephone number 63, and a corresponding IPaddress 65 and/or a corresponding E-mail address 67.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating one of the operational sequencesof the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1-4.

The operation of the components shown in FIGS. 1-4 and the manyvariations which they can take are best understood by considering FIGS.1-4 in conjunction with FIG. 5, along with the explanation which nowfollows.

The local fax machine 1 can be any type of fax machine. In a preferredembodiment, the local fax machine 1 is a standard fax machine, i.e., amachine which receives the information to be faxed and the telephonenumber to which it is to be faxed, dials the telephone number,handshakes with the receiving fax machine, and then delivers the faxover the telephone.

After the fax to be sent and the telephone number is presented to thelocal fax machine 1, the local fax machine 1 typically seizes thetelephone line by going “off-hook.” This usually causes a dial tone tobe generated.

Most local fax machines (but not all) test for the presence of the dialtone before proceeding. Once this tone is detected, the local faxmachine then dials the number to which the fax is to be sent.

In the configuration of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, however,the local fax machine 1 is not directly connected to a telephone line.Instead, it is connected to the fax director 3.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the fax director 3 includes the off-hooksensor 35. This is a device which senses that the local fax machine 1has gone “off-hook.” Typically, this device accomplishes this functionby sensing a low impedance state on the line connected to the local faxmachine 1.

Upon detecting an “off-hook” condition, the “off-hook” sensor 35 signalsthe processor 31 in the fax director 3 to provide a dial tone. In turn,the processor 31 directs the dial tone provider 39 to provide a dialtone and to deliver that dial tone to the local fax machine 1.

Generation of the dial tone by the dial tone provider 39 can beaccomplished using a broad variety of well-known techniques. Onetechnique is simply to internally generate the tones needed to simulatea dial tone with audio oscillators. In a preferred embodiment, however,the dial tone provider 39 generates the needed dial tone by seizing thetelephone line 23 and simply directing the dial tone which the telephoneline 23 generates to the local fax machine 1, all under the control ofthe processor 31.

If the local fax machine 1 does not require a dial tone to trigger itsdialing, of course, the fax director need not contain the dial toneprovider 39. In the typical situation where such a dial tone isrequired, the dial tone provider 39 typically cuts off the dial toneafter approximately one second.

Upon receiving the dial tone (or after seizing the line if no dial toneis required), the local fax machine 1 then dials the number to bedialed. It does so using well-known dialing techniques, such as thegeneration of touch tones or dial pulses.

Instead of being received by a telephone line, however, the dialing fromthe local fax machine 1 is received by the fax director 3 and decoded bythe telephone number decoder 41 under the control of the processor 31,both contained with the fax director 3.

The decoded telephone number is then delivered under the control of theprocessor 31 to the local computer 5.

Within the local computer 5 is the table 7. As best illustrated in FIG.4, the table 7 is simply a data structure containing a plurality ofrecords 61, each one of which includes a telephone number 63 and acorresponding Internet address, such as an IP address 65 or an E-mailaddress 67.

The telephone number table 7 in the local computer 5 is easily generatedand maintained using well-known programming techniques. When it is knownthat a potential fax recipient has the ability to receive a fax over theInternet, the recipient's telephone number and his receiving Internetaddress is stored in the table 7.

In practice, there are many methods by which a fax can actually be sentover the Internet. If the recipient has an IP address, the fax can besent directly to that IP address using file transfer protocol (“FTP”).In this case, the IP address would be stored in association with thetelephone number at the appropriate location in the telephone table 7.

Many users of the Internet, however, do not have their own IP address.Instead, they connect to the Internet through servers maintained byothers, such as Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”). These temporaryusers of the Internet typically have an E-mail address. For thoseInternet users who do not have their own IP address, their E-mailaddress can also be stored in the table 7, as illustrated in FIG. 4.

Some Internet users, of course, will have both an IP address and anE-mail address. In this case, both addresses can be stored in the table7 or, at the option of the user, one or the other. Some users may opt tostore only the IP address in those cases in which both are available.

Upon receiving the telephone number to which the fax should be sent fromthe fax director 3, the local computer 5 looks up that telephone numberin the table 7. Again, this is done using well-known programmingtechniques.

If the dialed telephone number appears in the table, notice of thisappearance is sent by the local computer 7 to the fax director 3. Uponreceipt, the processor 31 causes the handshaker 33 to issue thenecessary communication signals to the local fax machine 1 so that thefax director 3 and the local fax machine 1 can “handshake.” This is aprocess which is well known in the art for establishing a commonprotocol for the delivery of the fax.

Following this handshaking, the local fax machine 1 delivers the faxusing standard and well known fax transmission techniques to the faxdirector 3. This fax is received by the fax converter 43 in the faxdirector 3 which converts the received fax into a computer file. This,again, is done using well-known techniques, techniques which arepresently in widespread use in fax-modem boards.

The computer file is then delivered to the local computer 5 and storedin the fax storage area 51. As is well known in the art, such an areacan be RAM, a hard disk, or any other type of storage device.

The Internet address corresponding to the telephone number is thenobtained from the table 7 in the computer 5.

If the Internet address is an IP address, the FTP software 55 in thelocal computer 5 generates the necessary signals for causing that fileto be delivered into the Internet using FTP protocol. This can be doneby directly controlling the fax sender 9 through the connection 13.Alternatively, these control and data signals can be sent back to thefax director 3 from the local computer S which, in turn, can control thefax sender 9 through a connection 11.

If only a corresponding E-mail address is stored in the table 7, theE-mail software 53 in the local computer 5 generates an E-mail messageto the recipient (or no message at all) and delivers that E-mail intothe fax sender 9 for delivery into the Internet 15 with the computerfile attached. Again, the local computer 5 can instead deliver theE-mail with the computer file attached to the fax director 3 which, inturn, delivers it over the line 11 to the fax sender 9.

The fax sender 9 can be implemented using any of a broad variety oftechnologies. It could be as simple as a modem board plugged into thelocal computer 5 or the fax director 11. This board, in turn, could begiven a telephone line or an ISDN line which would connect to theInternet in one of many well-known ways, such as through an ISP. The faxsender 9 could also be a modem server contained on a network system. Itcould also be a more direct link to the Internet, such as a T1 line. Alltypes of connections to the Internet 15 are contemplated.

Following receipt of the computer file by the Internet, the computerfile proceeds in accordance with well-established techniques. Typically,it will be received by a remote computer, such as the remote computer19, which will strip the fax from the transmission and deliver it forviewing to a screen or, for more permanent display, to a remote printer,such as the remote printer 21. A broad variety of other existingtechnologies, of course, can also be used advantageously to receive thistransmission.

In the event that the telephone number is not contained within the table7, a different course of action is followed. First, the fax director 43seizes the telephone line 23 and dials the telephone number using thetelephone number dialer 37 under the control of the processor 31. Afterthe number is dialed by the fax director 3, the telephone line 23 isconnected to the local fax machine 1.

The local fax machine 1 then proceeds to deliver its fax into thetelephone system 25 in accordance with existing techniques. Ithandshakes with the remote fax machine 27 and, thereafter, delivers thefax. The local fax machine 1 then hangs up, causing the system to re-setitself for the next fax. For this function to work, the entire operationof looking the telephone number up in the table, signaling the absenceof the number, and dialing the number over the telephone line, must allusually occur sufficiently quickly to avoid a time-out of the local faxmachine 1.

The embodiments of the present invention which have now been describedare merely illustrative. Numerous variations are contemplated. Forexample, the exact location of many of the modules could be different.The fax sender 9 could be a component of the fax director 3 or could bea component of the local computer 5. The fax director 3 could even be aboard which is plugged into the local computer 5. Although an existingPC is contemplated as the device which performs the functions of thelocal computer 5, the fax director 3 could be custom-designed to performthese functions itself.

Although the Internet address look-up function has thus been describedas occurring after the downloading of the fax from the local fax machine1, it is to be understood that this operation could occur before thatdownloading, if desired. Indeed, it could occur at the very moment thetelephone number is first looked up in the table 7. In this case, thecorresponding address could simply be stored in a buffer until laterneeded.

Although one structure for the table 7 has been shown in FIG. 4,moreover, it is to be understood that many other structures couldinstead be used. For example, a one field could contain either the IPaddress or the E-mail address and another field could contain a flagindicating which type of address is stored in the first field. It isalso contemplated that the active commands to the local computers and/orthe fax sender 9 could be merged into the fax director 3, making thelocal fax machine 1 and the fax director 3 the only necessary componentsat the sending location. Numerous other configurations could also beused, as is well-known in the art.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a fax routing system and method inaccordance with another embodiment of the present invention using aremotely-located processing system.

As shown in FIG. 6, a plurality of local fax machines, such as local faxmachines 101, 103 and 105 are located remotely from a remote processingsystem 107. The remote processing system 107 is in communication withthe Internet 109 and a public telephone system 111 and includes astorage system 113 and a processor 115.

The configuration in FIG. 6 is similar to the configuration shown inFIG. 1. As in FIG. 1, a local fax machine (e.g., local fax machine 101)sends a fax to a processing system 107 that determines whether theintended recipient of the fax has an Internet address at which it canreceive the fax. If so, the fax is directed to the recipient over theInternet 109. If not, the fax is directed to the recipient over thepublic telephone system 111. Technology similar to what has beendiscussed above in connection with FIG. 1 is used to access and storethe corresponding Internet addresses and to otherwise handle theseprocessing needs.

In FIG. 6, however, the processing system 107 is specifically indicatedas being located remotely from the fax machines 101, 103 and 105.Further, a single processing system (e.g., the remote processing system107) is illustrated as servicing a plurality of fax machines. In apreferred embodiment, the remote processing system 107 is advantageouslylocated in the central office of the public telephone system, a PBX roomof a company, or in a hotel.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a fax routing system and method configuredin accordance with a still further embodiment of the present inventionusing a server computer connected to the Internet to delivercorresponding Internet addresses.

As shown in FIG. 7, a local fax machine 111 is connected to a faxdirector 113 which, in turn, is connected to a local computer 115. Thefax director 113 and/or the local computer 115 is, in turn, connected toa fax sender 117 which, in turn, is connected to the Internet 119, alongwith the local computer 115. Also, connected to the Internet 119 is aserver computer 121 containing a table 123.

This embodiment is also comparable to the embodiment shown in FIG. 1.One principal difference is that the table 7 shown in FIG. 1 is nowcontained within a server computer 121 that is connected to the Internet119 through a communication channel that is separate from a channel thatis connected to the fax server 117. In this embodiment, a single servercomputer 121 (or alternatively a set of them) serves to store andprocess requests for corresponding Internet addresses, thus alleviatingindividual users from the need to have this information generated andstored locally.

The server 121 receives recipient identifying information identifying adesired recipient of a fax over the Internet 119 from the fax director113. Stored within the table 123 is recipient identifying informationidentifying a plurality of potential recipients of faxes and at leastone address on the Internet at which each potential recipient canreceive a fax.

The server computer 121 receives recipient identifying information fromthe fax director 113 over the Internet 119 identifying a desiredrecipient of a fax. The server computer 121 determines whether anaddress on the Internet at which the desired recipient can receive a faxhas been stored in the table 123. If it has, the server computer 121returns to the fax director 113 over the Internet 119 that Internetaddress. If it has not, the server computer 121 returns a communicationto the fax director 113 over the Internet 119 indicating that acorresponding address is not stored. The fax director, in turn, directsthe fax over the Internet through the use of the fax server 117 and/orthe local computer 115 if a corresponding Internet address is returned.Otherwise, the fax director 113 directs the fax over the telephonesystem 125.

In short, the present invention contemplates a broad variety ofconfigurations, embodiments, features and benefits, and is limitedsolely by the claims which follow.

What is claimed:
 1. A remote processing system configured to be incommunication with a plurality of remotely-located fax machines, theInternet and the public telephone system for directing a plurality offaxes from the plurality of fax machines to desired recipients over theInternet or the public telephone system comprising: a) a storage systemconfigured to store recipient-identifying information identifying aplurality of potential recipients of faxes and at least one address onthe Internet at which each potential recipient can receive a fax, and b)a processor configured to be in communication with said storage system,the remotely-located fax machines, the Internet and the public telephoneand configured to: i) receive a fax and recipient-identifyinginformation identifying a desired recipient of that fax from one of theremotely-located fax machines; ii) determine whether said storage systemcontains an address on the Internet corresponding to the receivedrecipient-identifying information; iii) if said storage system containsan address on the Internet corresponding to the receivedrecipient-identifying information, direct the fax to the recipient overthe Internet to the corresponding address; and iv) if said storagesystem does not contain an address on the Internet corresponding to thereceived recipient-identifying information, direct the fax to therecipient over the public telephone system.
 2. The system of claim 1wherein said processor is configured to be located in a central officeof the public telephone system.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein saidprocessor is configured to be located in a PBX room of a company.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1 wherein said processor is configured to be located ina hotel.
 5. The system of claim 1 wherein the recipient-identifyinginformation includes a telephone number and wherein the fax is directedto the recipient at the telephone number if said storage system does notcontain an address on the Internet corresponding to the telephonenumber.
 6. A system for sending a fax generated by a fax machine to adesired recipient over the public telephone system or over the Internetconfigured to: a. receive a fax from the fax machine; b. receiverecipient-identifying information identifying at least one recipient towhom the fax should be sent; c. issue a query over the Internet to aserver on the Internet for an address on the Internet corresponding tothe recipient-identifying information; d. receive a response from theserver; e. if the response contains an address on the Internetcorresponding to the recipient-identifying information, to direct thefax to the recipient over the Internet to the corresponding address; andf. if the response does not contain an address on the Internetcorresponding to the recipient-identifying information, to direct thefax to the recipient over the public telephone system.
 7. The system ofclaim 6 wherein the recipient-identifying information includes atelephone number and wherein the fax is directed to the recipient at thetelephone number if the response does not contain an address on theInternet corresponding to the telephone number.
 8. An server incommunication with the Internet configured to: a. storerecipient-identifying information identifying a plurality of potentialrecipients of faxes and at least one address on the Internet at whicheach potential recipient can receive a fax; b. receiverecipient-identifying information identifying a desired recipient of afax; c. determine whether an address on the Internet at which thedesired recipient can receive a fax has been stored; d. if an address onthe Internet at which the desired recipient can receive a fax has beenstored, to return that address; and e. if an address on the Internet atwhich the desired recipient can receive a fax has not been stored, notto return that address.
 9. The server of claim 8 wherein therecipient-identifying information includes a telephone number.